Luna Orion’s Wild Mage: Phantom Twilight is an in-development, open-world RPG that combines a bright fantastical setting with the darker steampunk and medieval aesthetics to create a beautiful balance. “Final Fantasy like world, Diablo like dungeons, Zelda like adventures, with next-gen mechanics,” states their Kickstarter page. This amazing blend of styles and the exciting promise of a new RPG lead to over 1,500 people becoming backers for Luna Orion’s Kickstarter. Thus far they have raised over $85,000. Looking at their Stretch Goals list they will, so far, be able to release their game on Steam, Switch, Mac/Linux, PlayStation, and Xbox. The expected release date is December of 2019. Also, keep in mind that when going to the store page on Steam it is warned that this game may not be for everyone or for viewing at work.
Luna Orion hosted a Pre-Alpha event for their backers these last two weeks. The event was called the Treasure Island Challenge. The objective is to explore the map and check out the features while hunting for 11 treasure chests. This fun challenge was the perfect opportunity to allow the Kickstarter donors to find bugs and provide feedback to the developers.
The developers did warn in the menu that the event didn’t include a story, character selection, inventory, or shops. One of the cool and more unique features of this game is that there isn’t a normal level-up aspect. Instead, you discover spells by defeating monsters and finding lore books.
The character for this event was a female with a couple of different weapons; a sword, spear, and whip. Her design reminded me somewhat of Korra from the Nickelodeon show Legend of Korra combined with Rey from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The world is breathtaking. The magical element is illustrated not only in the characters but also the beautiful cotton candy colored clouds and enchanting trees. These fantastical elements are complemented by the darker and more mechanic elements of the airships and architecture.
The mechanics and graphics, of course, were not polished. This is expected from a Pre-Alpha and definitely isn’t a representation of the final game. The game was very laggy and unfortunately made participating in the challenge difficult, though it was a great opportunity to see the potential. There were settings for both mouse and controller, though I wasn’t sure how to get the controller settings to work. I am sure as Luna Orion develops Wild Mage: Phantom Twilight further it will be easier to figure out the controls and actions. I am very interested in the spell mechanic and the wide weapon selection that was hinted in the Pre-Alpha.
Overall, I think this game is going to be great. I am excited to see what is in store as they release more demos and eventually the full game. I think if you’re into fantastical RPG’s with a darker twist, you should keep an eye out for Wild Mage: Phantom Twilight.
Check Out the Wild Mage: Phantom Twilight Trailer:
https://youtu.be/pHriGuy_KIQ
Wild Mage: Phantom Twilight successfully funded on Kickstarter. You can download the Demo for PC via Steam Early Access. The game will enjoy future releases on Nintendo Switch, Playstation, and Xbox One TBA.
I'm a postgraduate Information and Library Studies student at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. I'm originally from Texas and have a BFA in Creative Writing from SFASU. I grew up playing video games and now enjoy watching other people play as well. I love anything with a good story!
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